


slow burn

by xx_anklebiters_xx



Category: Bandom, Paramore
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:53:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28923150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xx_anklebiters_xx/pseuds/xx_anklebiters_xx
Summary: inspired by the song of the same title by kacey musgraves
Relationships: Hayley Williams/Taylor York
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	slow burn

**Author's Note:**

> hey y'all, happy new year! at the end of this story, there's a link to a tumblr post I wrote back in november and i'd really appreciate it if everyone would give it a read :) for now, enjoy this one!

Hayley rushed into the quaint little restaurant Taylor had picked out for the two of them. “Sorry,” she pleaded. “I got caught up in getting ready and time just really slipped away from me.” He smiled at her.

They needed to talk; desperately. They’d already talked on the phone and had it out. Really, it was mostly Hayley crying and apologizing and rambling about all of her faults while Taylor begged her to calm down. He wasn’t mad; he never had been. He was simply allowing her space and time to think because that’s what he thought she wanted. She wanted him to fight harder, love more. He agreed to do that as long as she would give him clear and proper signs. She’d given him the green light of a new first date so that they could hash things out.

“Did you think I expected you to be on time?” he teased. She rolled her eyes as he helped her push her chair in. And then he whispered in her ear, “You’re quite alright, don’t worry about the five minutes.”

His whisper sent a chill down her spine. He simply had an effect on her that she couldn’t explain or control. She turned for a second and hung her purse onto the back of her chair. It was safe under Taylor’s eyes.

“How are you?” she asked softly as she picked up her menu. “Hopefully you aren’t _too_ ravenous, yeah?”

He shook his hand back and forth in a little balancing motion. The smile he gave her could only be described as cheeky. “I’m alright. I spent a lot of the day cleaning, random things. Sat at the piano for a while. What about you? How are you feeling today?

Hayley suppressed an airy laugh and forced herself to break eye contact with him. “I’m good. Really good, actually. I really only freaked out about my outfit and hair and makeup and everything today. Quite nervous, if you will.”

“Well, you look amazing,” he confessed, a very cheesy smile plastered on his face.

She laughed and replied, “Thank you, I tried really hard. You look unfathomably handsome, as always.”

“I already knew that,” he jested. She rolled her eyes and let out a louder, more confident laugh than before. His goal to relieve some of her nervous inhibition was met.

They took a minute to talk about the menu and inspect each of their options. They chatted shortly with the waitress and she didn’t seem to bother them after bringing them their drinks and taking their respective orders.

Taylor took a sip of his beer. “Should we maybe address the elephant in the room? The big blowout fight, what to do next, etcetera.”

Hayley took a deep breath and nodded. “First and foremost, I’m sorry. I know I said it on the phone, but I wanted you to hear it in person. I’m really, truly sorry. I shouldn’t have blown up on you like that and it was far from fair.”

“You’re right,” Taylor settled. “It wasn’t fair, but I’m glad that you can own up to that and apologize. But don’t apologize for it anymore, okay? We can let it go. I just want you to know that I’ve had feelings for you for a really long time, but I would hate to put you in a position where you don’t feel comfortable. So if you want to go back to just being friends, I understand that. There’s no reason to ruin our friendship and the band, right?”

Hayley’s eyes softened as she studied his face. “Taylor,” she sighed softly. Their moment was disrupted by their waitress and dinner. So, Hayley waited to speak and all of Taylor’s nerves bubbled inside of him like a pot on the brink of boiling over. Hayley muttered a quiet, ‘thank you,’ at the woman just before she left. “I can’t simply be your friend. I wouldn’t want to _just_ be friends, anyway. What I feel for you is so different and much more complicated than anything else I’ve ever felt before. It feels intrinsic, even.”

She stopped talking and her eyes veered off toward the floor. Taylor leaned into the table a bit more. “So you want to keep trying?” he questioned.

And Hayley licked her lips and found his eyes once more. There was a small amount of redness underneath her foundation and a tear rolled down her cheek halfway, but she swept it away. More threatened to spill, so she cleared her throat and hoped it’d clear her mind as well. “I want to love you in a way that’s untainted by my past relationships. I just don’t know how long that will take. I think we made a mistake by jumping in the way we did. I mean, we picked up like we already knew each other that way. I don’t think that’s gonna help us in the long run.”

Taylor nodded, but he wasn’t quite sure what she meant by this. He couldn’t tell if that meant she wanted to be with him or not, but her saying that she wanted to love him eased his tensions. “I think I agree,” he decided. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“I want to be committed to you, obviously.” this made Taylor sigh in relief. He urged her to go on. “But, I want things to be less pressuring and more laid back than before. You know? I liked how we were before we made things official.”

“Okay,” he agreed. “You want the energy we had being unofficial but you want us to still be official. You want the getting high on the weekends and the bars and all that stuff.”

Hayley laughed. “Yeah, and the kissing. All that stuff was nice and I’m just really into the idea of taking our time and… well, letting the world turn, as silly as it sounds. I just wanna ease into it naturally, if that’s alright.”

“No, no, that’s perfect,” Taylor told her. He had that silly grin she loved so much on his face again. “Do you wanna take a walk down to the bar after dinner?”

She stopped stabbing at her salad and looked up at him, a grin on her face. “Do you even have to ask me?” He chuckled in response and took several bites of his food. “How is it?”

He chewed for a second and then took a sip of his beer before commenting, “It’s really good. If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t suspect that this isn’t real meat. Thanks for picking the restaurant.”

“Of course,” she said softly. “Thanks for going vegan for the night.”

“Oh, you thought this was for the _night_?” he joked. “I was thinking about doing this all the time.”

Hayley froze right in her spot. When her eyes met his, he had this look on his face; the smirk he always challenged her with. She inquired, “Are you serious?” He nodded and she began to beam. “That could be so fun! See how easy it was tonight?”

And after they ate, they took a stoll down the road to the nearest bar. It was one they’d been to quite a few times; Taylor’s personal favorite. Somewhere between the restaurant and the bar, Hayley had slipped her small hand into his and they interlocked their fingers. Of course, when she did this, she glanced over at him, a shy sort of smile forming on her face. He returned the smile but with more warmth and comfort than hers held. This made Hayley feel safe and ultimately drew her body closer to his to combat the downtown chill.

Once slightly tipsy, Hayley started stealing quick pecks from Taylor in between planting random ones on his face and neck and he reveled in them. She paused, her face in the crook of his neck, and savored the scent of his cologne. After letting out a pleased hum, she mumbled, “You should come back to my place with me.”

“Is that so?” he wondered aloud. She nodded, so he said, “Okay, I’m done here, anyway. Let’s get going.” And the two laughed and joked the entire ride back to her home much to the annoyance of the driver.

**Author's Note:**

> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/xx-anklebiters-xx/635373935341584384


End file.
